Getting Control is Many Marketers Biggest Operational Challenge

Hurrah for modern times, when marketers are seen as the natural caretakers for business operations, and all data systems are accountable and integrated. Well, we can dream, can’t we? Chief Marketer recently talked with Liz Miller, vice president of programs and operations for the CMO Council, about the group’s recent study “Calibrate How You Operate” and what operational challenges plague the group’s members.

CHIEF MARKETER: What are your members citing as their biggest operational challenges?

MILLER: Many feel like they are constrained in making some of the changes that will drive business growth, whether that is improving go-to-market efficiencies, streamlining the marketing supply chain, or something as simple as master data management and data integration. There’s a real sense that companies don’t necessarily feel comfortable with the recommendations coming from marketing — they’d rather have sales or IT spearheading the effort.

CHIEF MARKETER: Why do you think that’s the case?

MILLER: There’s still a little bit of that holdover thinking of “Oh, isn’t marketing really about art and not science?” That’s a key frustration for a lot of senior marketers. We’re no longer those folks sitting in a corner, trying to spend money and make [the product] pretty. More than ever before, you have to be a customer-centric metrics maven who is going out there, crunching numbers, streamlining operations and really being a conduit for a cross-functional team.

Marketing now covers a ridiculous expanse of territory. And it is all things that belong in the purview of marketing. But there’s just so much of it that it really can be a very tangled web unless there is a clear flow-through mapped that starts with the customer and continuously flows through the organization. In the past, we’ve revolved our marketing operations around brand and then wondered why customers just didn’t flow along. Now, we’re seeing this heightened awareness about centralizing customer data and integrating customer service, finance and sales into the process so marketing can really rise to the occasion.

CHIEF MARKETER: Is it still a problem for a lot of companies that their data resides in separate silos?

MILLER: It’s huge. That’s probably one of the greatest frustrations marketers are facing right now. When we asked in our survey about what marketing operations areas are least developed in organizations, 41% said customer data integration analysis. That came only second to measurement and tracking of marketing effectiveness.

CHIEF MARKETER: So accountability of operations metrics is an issue as well?

MILLER: They don’t even know how to measure it at this point. The challenge is setting up the right measures and metrics that tie back to business value and growth. We’ve seen very fuzzy metrics over the past few years. Things like loyalty, retention, advocacy and voice of customer are emerging as important measurements, but they’re not necessarily showing up on dashboards yet. We’re starting to see customer lifetime value and the idea of customer economics really begin to come to the forefront. Marketers aren’t simply looking at share of mind; they’re looking at value of wallet.

CHIEF MARKETER: What are marketers’ concerns about automation?

MILLER: I would say that the number-one area of automation expenditures marketers are looking at in 2009 is outbound e-mail programs. In past years, CRM always scored high in our surveys as something marketers wanted to automate. This year, really only 17% were looking at on-premise CRM systems or automation solutions. What we’re seeing is that a lot of companies have invested in these programs, but they haven’t been used effectively across the entirety of the organization, so the customer data that is being aggregated and collected is a narrow view of the customer. Now, people are trying to invest in automation solutions that can bolt into CRM solutions and make outbound communications more effective. We’re also seeing investments in master data management programs to aggregate customer data across sales, finance, customer service, etc. for a 360-degree view of the customer.

CHIEF MARKETER: Is data really the crux of operations for marketers? Once that component is in place, does everything else fall in line?

MILLER: New challenges are always going to pop up. Data is one of the largest. Operationally, just getting a handle on all the aspects that fall in the marketing operations mix is probably the second greatest challenge. And really establishing true measures and metrics is a strong third, because we’re still continuing to use old brand measures to quantify business growth. Our biggest challenge is understanding the customer experience, and every single touchpoint a customer has with a product or brand.

CHIEF MARKETER: Is the economy holding back operational investments?

MILLER: Definitely. We’re being asked to do a whole lot more with a whole lot less. Budgets aren’t being slashed like we thought they would, but money is being reallocated. For example, we’re taking money out of traditional print marketing vehicles and we’re redeploying those dollars in more sophisticated direct programs, whether e-mail or social media. Marketers are leveraging customer data and engagement, versus just looking at customer awareness.

THE CMO COUNCIL RECENTLY SURVEYED 400+ MARKETERS ON OPERATIONAL ISSUES.

AMONG THE FINDINGS:

• 83%
  face change-resistant corporate cultures
• 41%
  are hamstrung by siloed data
• 28%
  lack ownership of critical aspects of the marketing budget
• 26%
  struggle for divisional control